Laundry Room Makeover

The one household chore I despise is the laundry, ok maybe the dishes too. My house if filled with two messy teen girls, two dirty, sweaty, little boys, a hubs who never unrolls his gym socks (gag), and then me, “Laundry-Ella”. The constant piles of clothes are never ending and rather overwhelming. I’d walk by the ugly laundry room, void of any character or color, and just shut the door in disgust. I couldn’t take it any longer! If I had to spend such a large amount of my time in the laundry room then it had to at least be beautiful! It was time for a Laundry Room Makeover!

Ta-da!!!! Isn’t it gorgeous? Giddy doesn’t even describe how excited I am with how the room turned out!

Now don’t get me wrong, I was very grateful to even have a laundry room. Our last house didn’t have one and doing the laundry in the unheated garage was no picnic. This laundry room was a decent size for one person to work in, but wow it was plain-Jane boring. Just look at the before and after pictures.

The first thing we did was Install a Bead Board Ceiling and crown molding. It added instant character! Then we installed this beautiful seeded glass pendant fixture from Ballard Designs. You can read my tutorial How to Install a Light Fixture to see how manageable it can be.

The room had to be a happy color. I didn’t want a sophisticated neutral color, I mean who the heck feels sophisticated while doing laundry? The color needed to be cheerful yet not so cheerful that it was obnoxious and distracting.  I ended up painting the room…. twice. The color I first chose was nice and bright, but it clashed with the rooms adjacent to it, so we repainted the room in Rainwashed by Sherwin Williams. Paint is inexpensive and I seriously believe that if you don’t love the color then you just need to change it! Yes it takes some time and effort, but painting a room a new color can completely transform it!

It was time to create a Sorting Station!  One of my best friends, Tiffany, has the most amazing laundry rooms I’ve ever seen and she had a huge sorting station. I thought how clever it was and knew I had to have one also! We installed two shelves, painted them white, and gave each member of the family their own basket.

It was time to retire the name of “Laundry-Ella”…

and I’m not Superwoman. My kids are old enough to help out with the laundry and I believe every child should have responsibilities and learn how to contribute to a family. When the dryer is finished, who ever is assigned “sorting duty” opens the dryer and sorts the clean clothes into the respective bins. No folding required, just toss the clothes in the bins. Then each member of the family has to take their bin of clean clothes to fold and put away. Of course I help my preschooler with his laundry. This has really helped to make laundry more manageable, and piles of clean clothes no longer sit on my couch for a week, waiting to be taken care of.

To clear the clutter off the washer and dryer, we made semi-floating shelves, two on each side of the window to hold the detergents. I’ll show you later this week how to make these shelves yourself. We buy detergent in bulk, but those containers are so ugly! I wanted EVERYTHING to be pretty, so why not use creative containers for the detergent and softener? Just refill the bottles once a week! They work great, are easy for the kids to use, and look beautiful! The baskets, bottles, jar, and vase were all found at TJ Maxx/ Home Goods.

Time to accessorize! I’ll show you soon how easy it is to make this paisley framed art.

The shell prints were found at Target. I placed them high above the top shelves to draw the eye upward toward the bead board ceiling.

To hide the fabric softener sheet box I placed the sheets in a pretty basket. The small planter of succulents requires minimal watering which is great if you don’t want a ton of plant maintenance.

I love walking by the laundry room now! The door is rarely ever closed either.

Well, because I can’t get it closed with all the dirty laundry on the floor!

Yes, the laundry room may be pretty now, but it’s still a laundry room that looks like the picture below 75% of the time. (Sigh) Welcome to my home!

I hope you enjoyed my Laundry Room Makeover!

For more ideas check out the DIY Project Gallery tab up at the top of the page!

Kim

Join me on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST,

G+ or SUBSCRIBE.